ATI Radeon HD 4870 vs HD 7970M Crossfire

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire with Radeon HD 4870, including specs and performance data.

HD 7970M Crossfire
2012
200 Watt
13.73
+339%

HD 7970M Crossfire outperforms HD 4870 by a whopping 339% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking392777
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data0.26
Power efficiency5.531.68
ArchitectureGCN (2012−2015)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameWimbledon XTRV770
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date1 May 2012 (13 years ago)25 June 2008 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$299

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices.

no data

Performance to price scatter graph

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores2560800
Core clock speed850 MHz750 MHz
Number of transistorsno data956 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt150 Watt
Texture fill rateno data30.00
Floating-point processing powerno data1.2 TFLOPS
ROPsno data16
TMUsno data40
L1 Cacheno data160 KB
L2 Cacheno data256 KB

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizelargeno data
Interfaceno dataPCIe 2.0 x16
Lengthno data250 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data2x 6-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amountno data1 GB
Memory bus width2x 256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed4800 MHz900 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data115.2 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.

Display Connectorsno data2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API and SDK support

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX11.110.1 (10_1)
Shader Modelno data4.1
OpenGLno data3.3
OpenCLno data1.1
Vulkan-N/A

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p132
+340%
30−35
−340%
Full HD102
+386%
21−24
−386%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data14.24

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low

Counter-Strike 2 80−85
+361%
18−20
−361%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+343%
7−8
−343%
Hogwarts Legacy 27−30
+350%
6−7
−350%

Full HD
Medium

Battlefield 5 60−65
+357%
14−16
−357%
Counter-Strike 2 80−85
+361%
18−20
−361%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+343%
7−8
−343%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+380%
10−11
−380%
Fortnite 80−85
+361%
18−20
−361%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+408%
12−14
−408%
Forza Horizon 5 45−50
+360%
10−11
−360%
Hogwarts Legacy 27−30
+350%
6−7
−350%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+350%
12−14
−350%
Valorant 120−130
+352%
27−30
−352%

Full HD
High

Battlefield 5 60−65
+357%
14−16
−357%
Counter-Strike 2 80−85
+361%
18−20
−361%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 190−200
+393%
40−45
−393%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+343%
7−8
−343%
Dota 2 90−95
+343%
21−24
−343%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+380%
10−11
−380%
Fortnite 80−85
+361%
18−20
−361%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+408%
12−14
−408%
Forza Horizon 5 45−50
+360%
10−11
−360%
Grand Theft Auto V 55−60
+367%
12−14
−367%
Hogwarts Legacy 27−30
+350%
6−7
−350%
Metro Exodus 30−35
+343%
7−8
−343%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+350%
12−14
−350%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40−45
+344%
9−10
−344%
Valorant 120−130
+352%
27−30
−352%

Full HD
Ultra

Battlefield 5 60−65
+357%
14−16
−357%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
+343%
7−8
−343%
Dota 2 90−95
+343%
21−24
−343%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+380%
10−11
−380%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+408%
12−14
−408%
Hogwarts Legacy 27−30
+350%
6−7
−350%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 50−55
+350%
12−14
−350%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 40−45
+344%
9−10
−344%
Valorant 120−130
+352%
27−30
−352%

Full HD
Epic

Fortnite 80−85
+361%
18−20
−361%

1440p
High

Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+383%
6−7
−383%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 110−120
+358%
24−27
−358%
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27
+380%
5−6
−380%
Metro Exodus 18−20
+350%
4−5
−350%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 140−150
+380%
30−33
−380%
Valorant 150−160
+400%
30−33
−400%

1440p
Ultra

Battlefield 5 40−45
+356%
9−10
−356%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+550%
2−3
−550%
Far Cry 5 30−35
+357%
7−8
−357%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+350%
8−9
−350%
Hogwarts Legacy 16−18
+433%
3−4
−433%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+340%
5−6
−340%

1440p
Epic

Fortnite 30−35
+371%
7−8
−371%

4K
High

Counter-Strike 2 10−12
+450%
2−3
−450%
Grand Theft Auto V 27−30
+350%
6−7
−350%
Hogwarts Legacy 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
Metro Exodus 10−12
+450%
2−3
−450%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20−22
+400%
4−5
−400%
Valorant 80−85
+350%
18−20
−350%

4K
Ultra

Battlefield 5 21−24
+425%
4−5
−425%
Counter-Strike 2 10−12
+450%
2−3
−450%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Dota 2 50−55
+342%
12−14
−342%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+433%
3−4
−433%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+400%
5−6
−400%
Hogwarts Legacy 9−10
+350%
2−3
−350%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 14−16
+367%
3−4
−367%

4K
Epic

Fortnite 14−16
+400%
3−4
−400%

This is how HD 7970M Crossfire and ATI HD 4870 compete in popular games:

  • HD 7970M Crossfire is 340% faster in 900p
  • HD 7970M Crossfire is 386% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 13.73 3.13
Recency 1 May 2012 25 June 2008
Chip lithography 28 nm 55 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 200 Watt 150 Watt

HD 7970M Crossfire has a 338.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, and a 96.4% more advanced lithography process.

ATI HD 4870, on the other hand, has 33.3% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 4870 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire is a notebook graphics card while Radeon HD 4870 is a desktop one.

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AMD Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire
Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire
ATI Radeon HD 4870
Radeon HD 4870

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Community ratings

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2.1 19 votes

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3.3 236 votes

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